Updated 12:39 pm, Tuesday, August 5, 2014

A state district judge said Monday he would need a few days to consider whether intense community debate and publicity over a proposed landfill near Hempstead would harm the fairness of a pending jury trial.

Pintail Landfill, a Dallas-based company working with Green Group Holdings, a Georgia-based developer, had asked for the case to be moved from Waller County, arguing the high-profile nature of the three-year dispute with the City of Hempstead would prevent a fair trial.

"We asked to have the trial moved and wanted to make sure the judge was aware of the disparaging publicity about the project," attorney Brent Ryan said in an email.

At stake in the trial, is whether the 15-story dump can be built at the proposed site near Highway 6 and above an aquifer that provides drinking water for many in the Houston region.

Opponents argue the project was discussed and moved forward illegally in back-room talks between Green Group Holdings and Waller County officials. Last year, they briefly blocked the project by convincing the commissioners court to adopt an ordinance to prohibit landfill construction on that land, designating alternative sites. Three commissioners later voted to reverse the restrictions, which were backed by Barnett and Amsler.

The retired District judge who heard Monday's arguments, Terry Flenniken, said he expected to rule later this week on the trial's location. Regardless of where the trial takes place, jury selection is scheduled to begin Nov. 13 and the trial is to start on Dec. 1.

Although Flenniken retired from the bench in 2012, he is standing in on the 506th District Court case after Judge Albert McCaig recused himself.